Fabulous interview. Brought back a load of memories as I was an on duty ATCO at Eastern Radar that evening. It was very quiet right up to when traffic suddenly started launching from LKH and MLD with no prenotes! As I remember one tanker from MLD followed by 2 X F111 from LKH and repeat. All heading NW intially and no radio Comms with ground. Extraordinary evening which I can recall with some clarity. With the political situation at the time and Gadiffi always provoking the the West it was pretty obvious what was happening. When I got home at about 2300 I remember saying to my wife that I had a good idea what would be the main news story the next day! Not often I can predict the future!!!
Hi Mark. Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for sharing the account of what you saw on radar. Great to have that information! Curious to know whether they were squawking - I forgot to ask during the interview. Do you remember?
@@10percenttrue Yes as far as I recall at least initially they were transponding within UK airspace. I guess they switched them off when they went outside UK FIR like the SR 71's. It was weird evening because we were pretty much at minimum manning 2xATCO's plus air traffic control assistants (ATSA) when the United States Air Force Liaison Officer (USAFLO) who acted as conduit between UK ATC environment and the USAF, your interviewee touched on it when he was talking about acclimatising to UK and European flying rules. The USAFLO helped smooth the waters. It was a 9-5 admin post and she was always in 'Blues'. This evening she arrived early evening in combat fatigues which pretty much unheard of. Once it all kicked off she explained that the flights from MLD & LKH would route to Coningsby (CGY) TACAN and then turn left and cross what was then the AMBER airways structure at whatever levels it was with no communication with ATC to stay covert. You can imagine my conversation with my oppo at London Mil who was basically shocked into silence. I said this is really happening you need to talk to your USAFLO now! He clearly did as there were no reported incidents in UK airspace. Strangely I had a slight connection to both crew members of the shot down aircraft. The Major had attended a dining in night at RAF Watton a few weeks previously and I had sat next to him a charming man very easy to speak to. The other crewman I didn't know but he used to live in Shipdham between Watton and East Dereham and I used to see him as I passed outside attending to his Lotus at weekends. I recognised him from the press reports after the event. Weird or what. After it was all over I retired to the crewroom for a well earned cup of tea!!!
I remember seeing portions of the US humanitarian intervention (invasion) of Haiti in the 90s from Florida. The drone of C-130s became a common sound that day.
I was in the Air Force with Captain Paul Lorence when we were enlisted airmen in the nuclear weapons field. Paul was a really smart and friendly person. RIP Paul.
I was a Com/Nav Troop at the Heath, and Paul was an off duty friend of mine. It was a real shame to lose him. I remember being on the team that installed the Pave Tac upgrade while I was there.
I didn't fly El Dorado Canyon, but I was in the 42ECS at Heyford, which flew the Ravens for this mission. I had a tiny part in the planning operation a couple of days prior to the mission, which mostly consisted of operating a huge paper cutter, risking losing one of my pinky fingers. I will say that our guys practiced and planned the Raven part of the mission for I think months before the actual event. These were very hush hush need to know flights, I heard a little about them a little via RUMINT, but wasn't read in until much latter. I had a really weird thing happen a couple of weeks before the mission. My pilot, Z-Bob, and I flew a 'Tac Check', which is a pretty big deal. The crew plans and flies a simulated combat profile with a crew of flight examiners on your wing, or in this case, chase position. The minimum requirement to fill this very important square was a low level and at least one full jamming orbit, typically flow against one of the RAF radar sites on the West Coast of Scotland. As soon as we entered the orbit I turned on the 'master radiate' switch to commence jamming. As soon as this happened a generator failed, which was not unheard of. Z-Bob says 'DON'T SAY ANYTHING'! So we flew that one orbit, declared an emergency and headed back Heyford. We discussed the possibility that the examiners might have noticed the jammer cooling vent doors on the side of the airplane that would have partially closed when I returned the jammers to standby. Other than that, we felt that the ride had gone really well. Normally, the debriefings from a check ride like this could extend to well over an hour, as each crew member's body cavities are examined and critiqued in great detail. Imagine our shock and surprise when, as we were returning to Heyford when the examiner crew says over the radio 'we'll debrief over the phone', and then heads off to Lakenhealth! WTF? A couple of hours latter our telephone debrief consisted of 'we didn't like the rejoin after takeoff, Q1 pass' followed by a click as they hung up the phone! They didn't notice the vent doors, yeah! I think that may have been the shortest check ride debrief in the history of the Air Force!
I was 13, on my first trip to the US, when I saw on TV the black and white strike target pod footage of Libyan military cargo planes being blown up by LGB's from F-111's. It was this footage, not movie footage from a certain Navy F-14 aviation movie being publicized in 1986, that cemented my lifelong passion for flying combat fast jets. Fascinating interview - this is the only first hand account of Operation El Dorado Canyon which I know of - an important part of history.
I heard the comment about the RTU’s for the Pilots. I left Cannon AFB in mid 1977 to go to Lakenheath to Support Operation Creek Swing which brought the F-111F’s to England. I had worked on F-111’s at that time for 3 years as a Weapons Release Tech and I had to go through re-training also when I almost could have TAUGHT the class. Thankfully, my immediate Supervisor understood what he had in me and allowed me to assist in training folks in the Shop work as well as the Phase Dock and Flightline work.
Fernando Ribas and his wife were my parent's best friends at Cannon @ Clovis NM. Col Sam Talyor as well. Dad was in 522,23,24th. "Royer" - Puerto Rico & Camaraderie
I'd definitely like to read his biography. Best interview so far. The F-111 has been my favorite aircraft besides the Viggen since I saw the news about the raid.
Wow, he sounds like the most legit US pilot I have ever heard! Talk about stereo-typical, what a guy. That was one of the absolute best interviews that I have ever heard - thank you!
Wow! Having been retired Air Force and in the maintenance field on F4's and F16's, I was amazed when he said screw the citations if everyone involved didn't get the President Citations award. I was so lucky to serve in the 70's and 80's when the air crews took care of maintenance guys.
Yes wonderful interview. Thanks yet again Steve Can we anticipate the book ever? Sounds like you haven’t secured enough interested sources, willing to assist, which is strange in view of the abundance of information about other conflicts
Not from me, Rich. I am tired of chasing those guys. If they don't get it down on record soon, it will be too late. But even if they do decide to talk, it won't be me that writes it.
Frenando was your neighbor? Damn, must be sad. I know 1-11s were precision strike capable. But I never figured why US didn't use F-117s or cruise missiles ?
I witnessed similar BUFFoonery in the B-52 when it came to planning. Granted it was all in training, but the products from the MPC left a lot to be desired, in this case by so-called weapons patches. Of course, it being training, we proceeded to make some changes and shove the stupid back at the briefing room. Glad I never had to accept a bullshit plan into actual combat. Granted, the BUFF is now just a standoff bomb wagon, so the threat of morting to shit planning is largely self-limited by the irrelevancy of the wagon in the non-permissive fight in the first place.
The outboard two could be used for fuel tanks streamlined at 26 degrees. The tanks would be jettisoned prior to the attack run. Also by the time you loaded up the inboard pylons with weapons you were close to max gross weight.
I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall, as a Aircraft Maintenance Scheduler, I think I had 2 stripes at this point A1C, was pulled out of the day room by SP's needed me to get in uniform and they have orders to take me to work, My Boss was home on Emergency leave (his Job), I got taken to the Command Post (had not been there before!) put behind the maintenance Board with a head set and commenced getting every tanker we had on the tarmac ready to run, at that point we accomplished the largest air refueling mission the Air Force had seen. I was on duty prior to us taking off and up till the last jet got home, long mission, I was honored afterward with an achievement medal. This was a very memorable few days of my life. The loss of the two officers and F-111 Air-frame was a major reason this story is not told much, its hard on everyone, we were meant to win that one, but did not feel that way afterward. 7
I was a weapons loader on the F-111F at RAF Lakenheath during Desert Storm, but I just missed loading 'em up for Eldorado Canyon. At the time, I was at Cannon AFB in New Mexico, working on the D models. I was upset, because as a weapons loader, you RARELY load live munitions, but by the time the war in the gulf was over in March of '91, I had loaded 352,500 lbs. of live munitions. Was elated to finally get to do my job, "for real" instead of practicing with inert, concrete filled bomb bodies. Great job satisfaction.
Fantastic interview, I remember that night vividly, a lot of fighter jets flew over our house in Gloucestershire at about 10pm, we used to get Heyford's EF's over us quite a bit so I guess it was them. I remember the missing man formation for Fernando and Paul at Air Fete '86 too, it was incredibly moving, a single F-111F pulled to the vertical with wings at full sweep.
One thing I can tell you right away is that, as a proud Navy man, at the time I could not understand why the Air Force had to be involved, and under such challenging conditions. We had two perfectly capable US Navy carrier battle groups that could have handled that mission, and more, without any outside help: USS America CV-66, and USS Coral Sea CV-43, the one my ship was attached to. I am sure there were excellent political and geo-strategic reasons, but I don't think it was accidental that the one loss was incurred by the Air Force. We had been sitting off Libya for a long, long time, we had already dealt Libya a first series of blows, and we were very familiar with their procedures and capabilities. I am sure the knowledge was shared with the Air Force, but from your video it doesn't sound like it was put to the best possible use, unfortunately. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the men who flew those Ardvaarks and I am still as deeply saddened by the loss of the two brave aviators who lost their lives that night as I was back then.
Your comments about the mission planners ineptness struck a cord with me. I was an Instrument and autopilot tech on the F111D from 1971 to 1974 at Cannon, a basic tech school instructor at Chanute AFB from 1974 to 1977 and an FTD instructor for instrument/autopilot systems at Mountain Home AFB from 1977 to 1980 for the F111A. I got out of the USAF in 1980 and became an autopilot instructor for Sikorsky on the H60 Seahawk. In 1984 I became a tech rep for the CH53Es and later for the HH60H for the USN and the USNR. 41 Years involved with fixing broken avionics systems for the US military. I has been my observation that many but not all people get promoted to positions of authority that were not good at their job. That is they didn't have much interest in learning how to do their job but much interest in learning how to get promoted. I think when you have people in positions to select people for jobs that know very little about the jobs they are selecting people for, your results are bad decisions by people who didn't know how to do their job very well.
@@jnbfrancisco I agree all the way,,,I was in the AF 72+80 worked on F111Fs 73-77 ECS and even at flight line level maintenance units side by side would be totally different because of poor leadership.ppl more interested in another stripe than fixing aircraft
This is brilliant. Many RAAF personnel were quoted as loving the pig and sad to see it's retirement. Fantastic to hear it was so loved by other nations too.
I'm not military men but love to hear the real people, who protect us every day, in the f 111 wikip.it says this plane was also capable of carrying a nuclear load, didn't know that,president Reagan flew a squadron of this fither jet over kadafi's house.that amazing.
I was an Instrument / autopilot tech on the F111D at Cannon from 1971 to 1974 and FTD instructor on the F111A at Mountain Home AFB from 1977 to 1980. I have always had great respect for the F111s and the people who fly them. I would have given one of my nuts to get a ride in one. I was OK with not getting a ride because of the high cost involved. I had a student of mine who got a ride at Mountain Home AFB for being airman of the month or year. Now I'm pissed.
Sir thank you for honoring a fellow American fighting man. I live in Waco Texas where Baylor is located. I probably know Puffy 12! I'm also a retired police officer. Thanks
I was in the kitchen pouring coffee. I heard the unmistakable whine of the engines and looked and saw the tail end of the planes taxi ng out of lakenheath and i new quadaffi was going to smoke his last cigar.
I hope this is ok to post. If not, I'll happily remove this comment upon request. Puffy 12's pilot gave another excellent interview on the Cold War Conversations podcast talking more widely about his flying career and living in the UK including nuclear and conventional tasking in West Germany. Its here: th-cam.com/video/D__bk8J0QDU/w-d-xo.html&si=xsnCRFWSvWhMTWmd
The footage in this is amazing! This is the best kind of flying there is. Tracing your way up and down steep mountain terrain at low altitude in a powerful plane is the ideal flight sim session, and almost unheard of in real life. These pilots were really living.
These interviews/videos are great. I've been watching for a bit, though haven't had the time to watch all your content. I have suggested your channel to like minded people though. Keep it coming, I'll catch up on the content.
What if your partner hits a short return (2nd shot) that has a high bounce and your opponents are about to drive their third at you while you're at the NVZ? Do you hold your ground at the NVZ or is it okay to back off the NVZ a few feet to give yourself more time to react to your opponents 3rd shot drive?
My wife and I were both ATC at Lakenheath, she was just twr at this base and I was RADAR and twr. She worked the departure , as I recall, as watch supv. I was off taking care of the kids. We PCSd not long after that. Recall being chewed out by Ed Bracken, Wing CC, while deployed to RAF Sculthorpe for runway maint at LK. I was working as Twr supv. There was an on time dept required with Bracken and the wingman but it got busted by the local controller, who was also the training CATCT who had withheld info about the on time in favor of an arrival. Well, shit. I'm the guy who should have known so it was my fault. Not to speak ill of Fernando, but he had a reputation of declaring emergencies that may not have been but that wasn't ATCs call. Was working PAR one night and he comes up on frequency on the handover and mentions that he had a generator fail and I asked him if he wanted to declare an emergency. He'd been bitten before and immediately came back with " *callsign* che no man, we don't want to declare that!". I knew he probably should have and told him that I'd declare one for him and it was on me. No problem in the approach and landing. I did get a fam flight in 85 for some ATC award. Of all the rides I'd wrangled, this one was the best. The worst part was Life Support had fitted me with a skull crushing helmet...damn it was tight. After takeoff it became apparent I wasn't getting the O2 flow as I was sucking the mask down with every breath. I mentioned this after the gear was up and we were trimmed and pilot reached down an put the selector in the right mode and damn near had that mask floating off my face. Got better after that but crap....still a really tight helmet. Nice to get the ride but nice to get back and get that shit off. I think back to LK and realize just how much fun...and work...it was.
I was the CATCO at the time. I was in the RSU with Phil Hapsburg who shooting light guns at the jets for takeoff clearance for the silent launch. Not sure who the OP is but hello!
That story about taking a bird strike to the windscreen reminds me of how when I was going through F-111 RTU at Mtn Home, I heard about a reserve F-4 crew that had a windscreen collision with a swan. It came through the windscreen, caused immediate major damage to the pilot's left shoulder, putting him into trauma and rendering him unconscious. Despite the wind, noise and blood in the cockpit, the WSO was able to land on the wing of another F-4, saving the aircraft and the life of the pilot.
I got to the 494th for initial cadre of the Strike Eagles. The 492 already had a couple but 494 was a few months away, we were bored out of our skulls and sick of being POL troops (painting, odd jobs, and landscaping) and not the fuel truck type. The first jet to the 494th was 91-0315 if I remember correctly and guys were chomping at the bit to get their hands on it. All the F-111 guys were still there and they ran the squadron. There were still a few “wonder lemons” flying think it was Gold or Green (493 or 495). We had a few shelters with murals to Eldorado Canyon on the blast doors that were there at least until 98. That was an amazing place to be and the 494th was the best squadron I ever served in and there were a lot.
A great interview, i remember this Operation well as i was a teenager living at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus when this happened, i would love to ask Puffy 12 if any of the aircraft in this mission landed at Akrotiri that night as i remember being woken up by the sound of numerous aircraft landing (i lived closed to the airfield). Subsequently in retaliation for this raid RAF Akrotiri was attacked by Libyan terrorists with mortars and small arms fire but thankfully nobody was killed but it did change life on the base until i left. I have always fully supported this mission, it was the beginning of Arab dictators rising to train terrorists to attack the West, thank you for your service Puffy and the rest of your brothers that bravely carried out the mission.
Fabulous interview. Brought back a load of memories as I was an on duty ATCO at Eastern Radar that evening. It was very quiet right up to when traffic suddenly started launching from LKH and MLD with no prenotes! As I remember one tanker from MLD followed by 2 X F111 from LKH and repeat. All heading NW intially and no radio Comms with ground. Extraordinary evening which I can recall with some clarity. With the political situation at the time and Gadiffi always provoking the the West it was pretty obvious what was happening. When I got home at about 2300 I remember saying to my wife that I had a good idea what would be the main news story the next day! Not often I can predict the future!!!
Hi Mark. Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for sharing the account of what you saw on radar. Great to have that information! Curious to know whether they were squawking - I forgot to ask during the interview. Do you remember?
@@10percenttrue Yes as far as I recall at least initially they were transponding within UK airspace. I guess they switched them off when they went outside UK FIR like the SR 71's. It was weird evening because we were pretty much at minimum manning 2xATCO's plus air traffic control assistants (ATSA) when the United States Air Force Liaison Officer (USAFLO) who acted as conduit between UK ATC environment and the USAF, your interviewee touched on it when he was talking about acclimatising to UK and European flying rules. The USAFLO helped smooth the waters. It was a 9-5 admin post and she was always in 'Blues'. This evening she arrived early evening in combat fatigues which pretty much unheard of. Once it all kicked off she explained that the flights from MLD & LKH would route to Coningsby (CGY) TACAN and then turn left and cross what was then the AMBER airways structure at whatever levels it was with no communication with ATC to stay covert. You can imagine my conversation with my oppo at London Mil who was basically shocked into silence. I said this is really happening you need to talk to your USAFLO now! He clearly did as there were no reported incidents in UK airspace. Strangely I had a slight connection to both crew members of the shot down aircraft. The Major had attended a dining in night at RAF Watton a few weeks previously and I had sat next to him a charming man very easy to speak to. The other crewman I didn't know but he used to live in Shipdham between Watton and East Dereham and I used to see him as I passed outside attending to his Lotus at weekends. I recognised him from the press reports after the event. Weird or what. After it was all over I retired to the crewroom for a well earned cup of tea!!!
@@markburch1582 Cracking stuff!
I remember seeing portions of the US humanitarian intervention (invasion) of Haiti in the 90s from Florida.
The drone of C-130s became a common sound that day.
I was in the Air Force with Captain Paul Lorence when we were enlisted airmen in the nuclear weapons field. Paul was a really smart and friendly person. RIP Paul.
I was a Com/Nav Troop at the Heath, and Paul was an off duty friend of mine. It was a real shame to lose him. I remember being on the team that installed the Pave Tac upgrade while I was there.
Superb interview. Your honour in not disclosing the identity of the interviewee shows great character.
I didn't fly El Dorado Canyon, but I was in the 42ECS at Heyford, which flew the Ravens for this mission. I had a tiny part in the planning operation a couple of days prior to the mission, which mostly consisted of operating a huge paper cutter, risking losing one of my pinky fingers.
I will say that our guys practiced and planned the Raven part of the mission for I think months before the actual event. These were very hush hush need to know flights, I heard a little about them a little via RUMINT, but wasn't read in until much latter.
I had a really weird thing happen a couple of weeks before the mission. My pilot, Z-Bob, and I flew a 'Tac Check', which is a pretty big deal. The crew plans and flies a simulated combat profile with a crew of flight examiners on your wing, or in this case, chase position.
The minimum requirement to fill this very important square was a low level and at least one full jamming orbit, typically flow against one of the RAF radar sites on the West Coast of Scotland. As soon as we entered the orbit I turned on the 'master radiate' switch to commence jamming. As soon as this happened a generator failed, which was not unheard of. Z-Bob says 'DON'T SAY ANYTHING'!
So we flew that one orbit, declared an emergency and headed back Heyford. We discussed the possibility that the examiners might have noticed the jammer cooling vent doors on the side of the airplane that would have partially closed when I returned the jammers to standby. Other than that, we felt that the ride had gone really well.
Normally, the debriefings from a check ride like this could extend to well over an hour, as each crew member's body cavities are examined and critiqued in great detail.
Imagine our shock and surprise when, as we were returning to Heyford when the examiner crew says over the radio 'we'll debrief over the phone', and then heads off to Lakenhealth!
WTF?
A couple of hours latter our telephone debrief consisted of 'we didn't like the rejoin after takeoff, Q1 pass' followed by a click as they hung up the phone! They didn't notice the vent doors, yeah!
I think that may have been the shortest check ride debrief in the history of the Air Force!
Jim, thanks for your recollections! Any chance you can contact me? editor@10percenttrue.com
10 Percent True - Tales from the Cockpit Email sent
I was 13, on my first trip to the US, when I saw on TV the black and white strike target pod footage of Libyan military cargo planes being blown up by LGB's from F-111's. It was this footage, not movie footage from a certain Navy F-14 aviation movie being publicized in 1986, that cemented my lifelong passion for flying combat fast jets. Fascinating interview - this is the only first hand account of Operation El Dorado Canyon which I know of - an important part of history.
Thanks, Zin. Yes, I am fairly sure it's the only first-hand account in broadcast format.
I heard the comment about the RTU’s for the Pilots. I left Cannon AFB in mid 1977 to go to Lakenheath to Support Operation Creek Swing which brought the F-111F’s to England. I had worked on F-111’s at that time for 3 years as a Weapons Release Tech and I had to go through re-training also when I almost could have TAUGHT the class. Thankfully, my immediate Supervisor understood what he had in me and allowed me to assist in training folks in the Shop work as well as the Phase Dock and Flightline work.
Thanks for sharing your recollections, Chris. Must have been a tough job working in those HASes in the winter months at The Heath.
Fernando Ribas and his wife were my parent's best friends at Cannon @ Clovis NM. Col Sam Talyor as well. Dad was in 522,23,24th. "Royer" - Puerto Rico & Camaraderie
I'd definitely like to read his biography. Best interview so far. The F-111 has been my favorite aircraft besides the Viggen since I saw the news about the raid.
It would be great if he would write it, that's for sure.
Massive fan of the F-111 for sure!
Wow, he sounds like the most legit US pilot I have ever heard! Talk about stereo-typical, what a guy. That was one of the absolute best interviews that I have ever heard - thank you!
Thanks!
I was there on my ship supporting the fleet. It was something I will never forget.
Probably the greatest warplane of them all. Nothing around or on the books to match its capabilities.
Wow! Having been retired Air Force and in the maintenance field on F4's and F16's, I was amazed when he said screw the citations if everyone involved didn't get the President Citations award. I was so lucky to serve in the 70's and 80's when the air crews took care of maintenance guys.
Yes wonderful interview. Thanks yet again Steve
Can we anticipate the book ever? Sounds like you haven’t secured enough interested sources, willing to assist, which is strange in view of the abundance of information about other conflicts
Not from me, Rich. I am tired of chasing those guys. If they don't get it down on record soon, it will be too late. But even if they do decide to talk, it won't be me that writes it.
@@10percenttrue understood Steve. A great shame and lost opportunity for the USAF
Frenando was your neighbor? Damn, must be sad.
I know 1-11s were precision strike capable. But I never figured why US didn't use F-117s or cruise missiles ?
I don't think they wanted to compromise the F-117 on what was effectively a mission to send a political message.
I witnessed similar BUFFoonery in the B-52 when it came to planning. Granted it was all in training, but the products from the MPC left a lot to be desired, in this case by so-called weapons patches. Of course, it being training, we proceeded to make some changes and shove the stupid back at the briefing room. Glad I never had to accept a bullshit plan into actual combat. Granted, the BUFF is now just a standoff bomb wagon, so the threat of morting to shit planning is largely self-limited by the irrelevancy of the wagon in the non-permissive fight in the first place.
Hmm. I have never done a BUFF interview ;)
This guys great
Can anyone tell me why only 4 of the 8 pylon mounts swivelled?
Great question. Anyone?
The outboard two could be used for fuel tanks streamlined at 26 degrees. The tanks would be jettisoned prior to the attack run. Also by the time you loaded up the inboard pylons with weapons you were close to max gross weight.
Diz pro puffy aparecer, se ele tiver coragem.
Best looking bomber ever
F Model who, 1990 to 1992. 494th . 2 combat tours to Incirlic.
I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall, as a Aircraft Maintenance Scheduler, I think I had 2 stripes at this point A1C, was pulled out of the day room by SP's needed me to get in uniform and they have orders to take me to work, My Boss was home on Emergency leave (his Job), I got taken to the Command Post (had not been there before!) put behind the maintenance Board with a head set and commenced getting every tanker we had on the tarmac ready to run, at that point we accomplished the largest air refueling mission the Air Force had seen. I was on duty prior to us taking off and up till the last jet got home, long mission, I was honored afterward with an achievement medal. This was a very memorable few days of my life. The loss of the two officers and F-111 Air-frame was a major reason this story is not told much, its hard on everyone, we were meant to win that one, but did not feel that way afterward. 7
My dad was a the Wing Command Post with you
I was a weapons loader on the F-111F at RAF Lakenheath during Desert Storm, but I just missed loading 'em up for Eldorado Canyon. At the time, I was at Cannon AFB in New Mexico, working on the D models. I was upset, because as a weapons loader, you RARELY load live munitions, but by the time the war in the gulf was over in March of '91, I had loaded 352,500 lbs. of live munitions. Was elated to finally get to do my job, "for real" instead of practicing with inert, concrete filled bomb bodies. Great job satisfaction.
That's a lot of munitions!
F-15's used Pratt & Whitney F100 engines. F-111 used TF30. Same as the F-14.
I’m 2:45 in, what an incredible personal and sad link to the raid. A book sounds like a great idea.
Thanks, Robert. I can only hope that some of the guys decide to start sharing their stories.
When we America "accidentally"bombed the French embassy in Libya because they made us flying extra 1500 air miles. Seriously look it up.
I asked the pilot of the aircraft what happened, he smiled huge and said , "my wso messed up"
There were tons of jokes about that...our pilots not getting enough sleep...😁
Fantastic interview, I remember that night vividly, a lot of fighter jets flew over our house in Gloucestershire at about 10pm, we used to get Heyford's EF's over us quite a bit so I guess it was them. I remember the missing man formation for Fernando and Paul at Air Fete '86 too, it was incredibly moving, a single F-111F pulled to the vertical with wings at full sweep.
I was a young officer on my ship, USS Biddle CG-34, in the Gulf of Sidra that night. I will never forget it.
Can you tell us more about what your experience was like?
@@10percenttrue Sure. How can we get in touch privately?
One thing I can tell you right away is that, as a proud Navy man, at the time I could not understand why the Air Force had to be involved, and under such challenging conditions. We had two perfectly capable US Navy carrier battle groups that could have handled that mission, and more, without any outside help: USS America CV-66, and USS Coral Sea CV-43, the one my ship was attached to. I am sure there were excellent political and geo-strategic reasons, but I don't think it was accidental that the one loss was incurred by the Air Force. We had been sitting off Libya for a long, long time, we had already dealt Libya a first series of blows, and we were very familiar with their procedures and capabilities. I am sure the knowledge was shared with the Air Force, but from your video it doesn't sound like it was put to the best possible use, unfortunately.
I have nothing but respect and admiration for the men who flew those Ardvaarks and I am still as deeply saddened by the loss of the two brave aviators who lost their lives that night as I was back then.
theaviationgeekclub.com/intruders-over-libya-former-a-6-crew-members-remember-their-participation-in-operation-el-dorado-canyon/
@@zebbocaster editor@10percenttrue.com
Your comments about the mission planners ineptness struck a cord with me. I was an Instrument and autopilot tech on the F111D from 1971 to 1974 at Cannon, a basic tech school instructor at Chanute AFB from 1974 to 1977 and an FTD instructor for instrument/autopilot systems at Mountain Home AFB from 1977 to 1980 for the F111A. I got out of the USAF in 1980 and became an autopilot instructor for Sikorsky on the H60 Seahawk. In 1984 I became a tech rep for the CH53Es and later for the HH60H for the USN and the USNR. 41 Years involved with fixing broken avionics systems for the US military. I has been my observation that many but not all people get promoted to positions of authority that were not good at their job. That is they didn't have much interest in learning how to do their job but much interest in learning how to get promoted. I think when you have people in positions to select people for jobs that know very little about the jobs they are selecting people for, your results are bad decisions by people who didn't know how to do their job very well.
@@jnbfrancisco I agree all the way,,,I was in the AF 72+80 worked on F111Fs 73-77 ECS and even at flight line level maintenance units side by side would be totally different because of poor leadership.ppl more interested in another stripe than fixing aircraft
This is brilliant. Many RAAF personnel were quoted as loving the pig and sad to see it's retirement. Fantastic to hear it was so loved by other nations too.
Many thanks!
I'm not military men but love to hear the real people, who protect us every day, in the f 111 wikip.it says this plane was also capable of carrying a nuclear load, didn't know that,president Reagan flew a squadron of this fither jet over kadafi's house.that amazing.
I was an Instrument / autopilot tech on the F111D at Cannon from 1971 to 1974 and FTD instructor on the F111A at Mountain Home AFB from 1977 to 1980. I have always had great respect for the F111s and the people who fly them. I would have given one of my nuts to get a ride in one. I was OK with not getting a ride because of the high cost involved. I had a student of mine who got a ride at Mountain Home AFB for being airman of the month or year. Now I'm pissed.
I was at cannon too .79-82 in crash recovery & aero repair.
Sir thank you for honoring a fellow American fighting man. I live in Waco Texas where Baylor is located. I probably know Puffy 12! I'm also a retired police officer. Thanks
Thank you!
@@10percenttrue I lived in a house right on that Mumford roundabout!
Really well done video, intro etc. Keep it up!
I was in the kitchen pouring coffee. I heard the unmistakable whine of the engines and looked and saw the tail end of the planes taxi ng out of lakenheath and i new quadaffi was going to smoke his last cigar.
I hope this is ok to post. If not, I'll happily remove this comment upon request.
Puffy 12's pilot gave another excellent interview on the Cold War Conversations podcast talking more widely about his flying career and living in the UK including nuclear and conventional tasking in West Germany.
Its here: th-cam.com/video/D__bk8J0QDU/w-d-xo.html&si=xsnCRFWSvWhMTWmd
The footage in this is amazing! This is the best kind of flying there is. Tracing your way up and down steep mountain terrain at low altitude in a powerful plane is the ideal flight sim session, and almost unheard of in real life. These pilots were really living.
It really is!
Love listening to these competent, confident, dedicated pilots
These interviews/videos are great. I've been watching for a bit, though haven't had the time to watch all your content. I have suggested your channel to like minded people though. Keep it coming, I'll catch up on the content.
Great feedback. Thanks so much!
What if your partner hits a short return (2nd shot) that has a high bounce and your opponents are about to drive their third at you while you're at the NVZ? Do you hold your ground at the NVZ or is it okay to back off the NVZ a few feet to give yourself more time to react to your opponents 3rd shot drive?
Can I eat it, mate with, or kill it?
We lived up the road from Heyford and well remember that night as all the Ravens scrambled, what a noise! Woke the whole village up !
I could listen to him for another 3 hours!
Good to see this period of history chronicled more. Great interview!
Glad you enjoyed it! Would love to have a go on your simulator!
@@10percenttrue If you're ever in Perth, Australia let us know
Great interview
Thanks!
Some of the pilots did see the fireball of the fighter going down.
My wife and I were both ATC at Lakenheath, she was just twr at this base and I was RADAR and twr. She worked the departure , as I recall, as watch supv. I was off taking care of the kids. We PCSd not long after that. Recall being chewed out by Ed Bracken, Wing CC, while deployed to RAF Sculthorpe for runway maint at LK. I was working as Twr supv. There was an on time dept required with Bracken and the wingman but it got busted by the local controller, who was also the training CATCT who had withheld info about the on time in favor of an arrival. Well, shit. I'm the guy who should have known so it was my fault.
Not to speak ill of Fernando, but he had a reputation of declaring emergencies that may not have been but that wasn't ATCs call. Was working PAR one night and he comes up on frequency on the handover and mentions that he had a generator fail and I asked him if he wanted to declare an emergency. He'd been bitten before and immediately came back with " *callsign* che no man, we don't want to declare that!". I knew he probably should have and told him that I'd declare one for him and it was on me. No problem in the approach and landing.
I did get a fam flight in 85 for some ATC award. Of all the rides I'd wrangled, this one was the best. The worst part was Life Support had fitted me with a skull crushing helmet...damn it was tight. After takeoff it became apparent I wasn't getting the O2 flow as I was sucking the mask down with every breath. I mentioned this after the gear was up and we were trimmed and pilot reached down an put the selector in the right mode and damn near had that mask floating off my face. Got better after that but crap....still a really tight helmet. Nice to get the ride but nice to get back and get that shit off. I think back to LK and realize just how much fun...and work...it was.
Cool story 😎
I was also a controller at the RAPCON but don’t ever recall anytime that we knew ‘who’ was flying the aircraft. Simply call signs.
@@stephenhoffman1813 Hi Stephen. Wish I could remember you but as a near septuagenarian memory is getting challenging! Thanks for your service.
I was the CATCO at the time. I was in the RSU with Phil Hapsburg who shooting light guns at the jets for takeoff clearance for the silent launch. Not sure who the OP is but hello!
Brilliant
That story about taking a bird strike to the windscreen reminds me of how when I was going through F-111 RTU at Mtn Home, I heard about a reserve F-4 crew that had a windscreen collision with a swan. It came through the windscreen, caused immediate major damage to the pilot's left shoulder, putting him into trauma and rendering him unconscious. Despite the wind, noise and blood in the cockpit, the WSO was able to land on the wing of another F-4, saving the aircraft and the life of the pilot.
I got to the 494th for initial cadre of the Strike Eagles. The 492 already had a couple but 494 was a few months away, we were bored out of our skulls and sick of being POL troops (painting, odd jobs, and landscaping) and not the fuel truck type. The first jet to the 494th was 91-0315 if I remember correctly and guys were chomping at the bit to get their hands on it. All the F-111 guys were still there and they ran the squadron. There were still a few “wonder lemons” flying think it was Gold or Green (493 or 495). We had a few shelters with murals to Eldorado Canyon on the blast doors that were there at least until 98. That was an amazing place to be and the 494th was the best squadron I ever served in and there were a lot.
I was a weapons loader 494th at Lakenheath RAFB during Eldorado Canyon. Loaded a few of those Aircraft that went.
God, I worshipped President Reagan. We need Regan back.
Regan was our last president ranked "near" great by historians...and don't forget Iron Lady Maggie Thatcher...😁
A great interview, i remember this Operation well as i was a teenager living at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus when this happened, i would love to ask Puffy 12 if any of the aircraft in this mission landed at Akrotiri that night as i remember being woken up by the sound of numerous aircraft landing (i lived closed to the airfield). Subsequently in retaliation for this raid RAF Akrotiri was attacked by Libyan terrorists with mortars and small arms fire but thankfully nobody was killed but it did change life on the base until i left. I have always fully supported this mission, it was the beginning of Arab dictators rising to train terrorists to attack the West, thank you for your service Puffy and the rest of your brothers that bravely carried out the mission.
DAMN, are these real raid footages? it's mindblowing how low and fast this big jet could fly.
No, this is footage from Geoff Guinn (former F-111F pilot) of a low-level over the UK.